Shirley Goodwin - Dyeing2Design

Transformation

2012-02-01T14:31:00.001+13:00

I've been busy the past couple of days re-arranging things in the house because I have an international student coming to live with me this year. As her room has the only double wardrobe, this was full of STUFF - you know the kind of thing I mean. Fabric, wool, patterns and so on. I moved half the boxes so that half the wardrobe was useable, and decided that I'd take the opportunity to tidy up the little 3rd bedroom seeing as I'm not getting a second student. This one has been used as dumping ground for the aforementioned STUFF, but before that, it looked like the photo above.

I visited my friend Angela yesterday afternoon to give her the patchwork fabric kindly sent by Amanda Greenwood of Kiwiquilters - Angela having got interested in p&q after I gave her the red and grey recycled quilt you will have seen late last year. As I was telling Angela about the above mentioned tidying, she suggested that I turn the room into a studio.

Lightbulbs flashed. In my garage, I had a futon-style couch-that-opens-into-a-double-bed belonging to another friend, Haley, who didn't want it. I measured it, the room, and then all the various pieces of furniture I wanted to re-arrange, and drew it up on paper. It all fitted. I would like readers to know that this is the only thing I am anal about. Really.

I put the queen-sized wooden bed on TradeMe that evening, and it was gone by 9.30 this morning. Gone. Removed. I lured Haley over with the offer of a cup of coffee and then made her help me cart the futon and a table from the garage into the room. I had already moved the Scotch chest out, and eased the computer table and trolley contained all my school books around the corner.

So, less than 24 hours after the birth of the idea, here is the studio. Actually, I will sew, paint, draw, use the computer and study in here. I may even do some ironing! The futon is protected by a piece of fake fur - not classy, but it stops the animal hair and dirty feet (theirs). My household has a lot of feet, and most of them aren't mine. This room gets afternoon sun, and is very pleasant then. I'll be able to sit by a window to sew, and will not have to spread stuff all over the dining room table like I do now.

I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. I gave Haley an office chair on wheels that I didn't need but she did. I'll do something else nice for Angela.

Paper clay

2012-01-24T19:37:00.000+13:00

I've spent the past 2 days doing a class in paper clay. This is any kind of clay to which paper pulp has been added. The addition of the pulp means you can do all kinds of things to the clay that are not normally possible. This is our tutor, Jill Nicholls, of Riverton.

Above and below are examples of some of the things Jill has done with paper clay.

One of my classmates, Ellie Bailey-Wright, was also at the class. Here she is working on a thumb pot....

...and holding up a Picasso-style mask that we all put bits on.

One of the things I made was a bowl made from woven clay strips. Below, it's sitting in a plaster bowl to keep the shape correct.

Once the paper clay had dried overnight, I added a plaited edge....

...which was put out in the sun to dry and harden.

Here are some of the things that the others in class made....

I've brought all my pots home, so that I can paint them and use them. As I'm not planning to eat out of them or fill them with water, they don't need to be glazed.

Notorious Sock Knitter

2012-01-15T15:52:00.000+13:00

Most of you will be unaware that I am a Notorious Sock Knitter. Or I was. This is the name given to those who join the Rockin' Sock Club, run by Blue Moon Fiber Arts, which I did last year as a treat. Quite a big treat - I see the price this year is US$310 so it's not on my radar at all. You get 6 shipments of wool a year, predominantly multi-dyed, of beautiful merino/nylon wool, enough to make 1 par of socks but with 2 exclusive designs to choose from. It's very professional, the wool is lovely but I haven't been very keen on the colours and colour combinations. Anyway, I have completely failed to knit any socks for various reasons.

Reason #1 - short attention span. I may actually complete one sock but then I've lost interest in knitting the second.

Reason #2 - aforementioned lack of excitement about the wool colours

Reason #3 - following on from #1, inability to learn how to knit 2 socks at a time.

Breakthrough! I found this book at the local library. I did in fact use to own the author's first book, at which I totally failed etc. I sat myself down with the latest RSC wool ( because I've paid for it and therefore need to use it) and attempted to teach myself to knit 2 socks at once from the toe up. As usual, the casting on method totally flummoxed me. I found it unnecessarily awkward and difficult to follow, so I thought "Stuff this!" and used the longtail cast-on. Which worked perfectly, And was so easy to do. So here are the socks so far:

The top photo is the part underneath the foot, and the second photo is the ribbed instep. These are SO easy to knit! Slow, unfortunately, as I'm knitting with teeny weeny 2.25mm needles. Perhaps the cast-on area is not the most beautiful but it works and it's simple. Perhaps I'll finally get to knit up all my sock wool now.

Also on the needles is this very, very simple garter stitch scarf which I'm making from lovely laceweight wool given to me for Christmas. I wanted to make something that required no thought at all, and which can be large enough to be a stole as well. I like the colours of this wool much better.

As well, I'm knitting this scarf, which is part cashmere, as a gift.

The fur family likes to gather on my bed in the sun - here they were yesterday.

Striped Quilt tutorial part 2

2012-01-04T09:05:00.000+13:00

I am not using a pattern for this quilt, which can make fabric requirements a bit tricky. What I have done is devise 2 blocks of the same size (18" unfinished"). Block 1 starts with a 6.5" centre square, followed by a contrasting 2" row, then a 2.5 row and finishing with a 3" row, in the Square Within a Square style. Above, I've cut strips in these widths to start the blocks in the yellow colourway.

Here's the first 2 rows of Block 1...

Three rows....

..and the completed block. I made a second block starting with plain in the centre, ending with stripes around the outside.

Here's Block 2. The cutting sizes are 5.5" centre, 3.5" strip for row 2, 2' strip for row 3 and 2.5" strip for row 4.

Here's the 2 different versions of Block 2.

All the blocks are then cut into 4. I fold the block in half one way and finger press the fold, then cut along this with a rotary cutter. Repeat for each half to get 4 identical quarters.

Once all the 4 blocks for each colourway are completed, the blocks will be re-assembled into 17.5" blocks with each quarter being of a different colour. As the strips of the 2 block types have different widths, there will be no need to match stripes.

Tutorial - using stripes

2011-12-31T12:37:00.000+13:00

It's New Year's Eve here, so what better time to start something new? I don't celebrate New Year (as in going to parties); for me, it's a time for reflection and renewal.

I bought four 1 metre lengths of Kaffe Fassett striped fabric recently in an "end of roll" sale. I'm going to make a striped quilt which I'll document as a tutorial for those who are interested or perhaps, reluctant to try stripes. As I need more than 4 metres, I'm using some cream homespun (on the left) which I'll dye to match. Why cream and not white? Dyeing on a cream background will take the edge off the brigth colours so it'll be more in keeping with the striped fabric.

Here's the results, and the dyes I chose:

Mustard (left) and Golden Yellow at a medium strength.

Nutmeg (left) and Coral.

Lilac (left) and Sapphire Blue.

Teal (left) and Emerald at a medium strength.

I've used some of the colours at medium strength because it adds more contrast. Now I'm off to start cutting. Watch this space for updates.

Almost time to say goodbye...

2011-12-29T06:17:00.000+13:00

...to 2011. It's been a year of highs and lows, as I guess all years are, but the Christchurch earthquakes made the lows pretty big. This was my first visit to my daughter and her partner's new home in Bryndwyr, Christchurch, which fortunately was an area not badly damaged by the quakes. I was hoping there would be none while I was there, but unfortunately, this wasn't the case. The day following, we had a 5.8 magnitude followed by a 6.0, plus a multitude of smaller shocks. Really we could have done without that. However, the house stood up well.

As my son Cass was also there for a few days and would be bored with nothing to do (family trait), he offered to do a project for Sophie and Mark. They wanted a deck, so Cass designed this (he is a structural engineer/architect) and started work. By the time I arrived on Thursday afternoon, the old timber decking that had been on top of the concrete had been removed, and post holes had been dug.

Sophie was a willing helper. Mark also helped, as did a few friends from time to time. Actually, any visiting male wanted to join in. I didn't help, I merely documented the whole process so Sophie and Mark could look back on how it came together and what it looked like before - because you forget.

Here's Cass surveying the work so far. The framework went up quickly - this photo was taken Friday evening. Work didn't stop for the quakes. Laying the kwila decking was the slow part, and took all Saturday (Christmas Eve) and Sunday morning.

By 2pm on Christmas Day, this is how it looked - the raised seating along the outer 2 sides was a great idea. The steps will have to come later. The deck is 35 square metres (377 square feet), so quite a substantial size - 1/3 of the size of my whole house.

Of course, the kids didn't work the whole time. There was quite a bit of this as well. This is the dessert table at Mark's extended family Christmas dinner.

All in all, I had a lovely time despite the earthquakes. It was an 8 hour drive each way, but the weather was good and the traffic light.

Best wishes for a happy and creative New Year!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-21T13:43:00.000+13:00

It turned out that I needed to make some last minute Christmas gifts. I made these Fat Quarter Aprons for the women.......

...and for the men, Fabric Boxes which I'll fill with homemade sweets and treats.

While my Christmas lilies haven't bloomed yet, I have a Christmas cactus (Zygocactus) that has just opened.

Tomorrow I'm off to stay with my daughter Sophie and her boyfriend Mark in Christchurch, about 8 hours' drive away. Fortunately, we're having beautiful summer weather so it should be a good trip. Merry Christmas to all my readers, and best wishes for a safe and happy New Year.

Hearts

2011-12-19T08:47:00.000+13:00

One of the traditions of Kiwiquilters, the email group for NZ quilters that I set up in 1999, is to call for hearts from members when a KQ or someone in their family or one of their close friends has suffered serious illness or loss. Making a heart or 2 is no big task, and somebody collects the individual hearts (made to a standard 6.5 inch size, normally on a cream background) and makes the quilt. It's a wonderful expression of caring that I know is really appreciated by the recipient. Two of our members are in this position at present, so I made hearts over the weekend. I found a ...I don't know just what to call it....it comprised a number of small squares sewn together to make a rectangle. The squares were all hand dyed and stamped, all in different colours. Anyway, I've never found a use for this so I chopped it up for hearts.

Her's the first pair....

..and the second pair. They are hand stitched with blanket stitch around the outside.

I'm not sure about these 2, so I might keep them.

Summer

2011-12-12T06:50:00.000+13:00

Yes, it's suddenly become summer here in Southland. For the past 2 weeks, we've had virtually no rain (most unusual!) and temperatures often in the 20s (that's Celsius). Today, for example, it's already 14 outside and the expected high is 25. However, the tropical weather won't last and it will be raining by midweek. However, the sunshine has lifted spirits and made me feel like I'm on holiday - which I am, even though I've been doing some part time work. As soon as that runs out, which will be soon, I have lots of creative ideas that I want to pursue.

I went to Riverton recently (the Riviera of the South), and took some macros at the beach. This is my favourite.

At home, I took macros of the flowers. This is a Rhodohypoxis, a dwarf rock garden plant.

This lavender flower and the purple one below are Lobelia.

This is a poppy - always one of my favourite flowers.

And this was how my tunnel house looked after 5 weeks - the other side hasn't been completed yet. Already the plants have grown noticeably bigger (2 weeks have passed since I took the photo) and the lettuces are ready to eat. I've had to jiggle my tomato flowers to pollinate them so I hope that works.

Tutorial - Rag Quilt #2

2011-12-06T07:04:00.001+13:00

I decided to make a quilt for a friend of mine whom I felt deserved something nice. This one is quite different from the green/purple rag quilt -

I decided on the size of the squares and the quilt in advance, instead of leaving it to chance
Only the outer edge is ragged. The inner seams are sewn in the traditional way
There are only 12 large squares instead of many small ones
It's much faster to make, as the middle and bottom layers are in one piece.

The principles are the same, however, and this is a brilliant quilt to make in a hurry. You will need about 3 dozen medium-sized safety pins for this design, if you have carpet, or masking tape if you have hard floors - you are going to lay the quilt out on the floor to sandwich the layers together.

I started with an orphaned queen sized sheet, and a pair of men's pyjamas. I measured and tore a 15" strip off the sheet, and tore that into 6 so I had 15" squares. After removing all the seams, I also had enough pyjama fabric for 6 15" squares. I tore the remaining sheet in two so it would be big enough to form the middle (batting/wadding) and back of the quilt. The whole quilt will be 42" by 56" (107cm by 142cm). Click on the photos to enlarge them.

I chose red and grey as the quilt colours, being ones that my friend likes. Using the previous instructions, I dyed the quilt squares Scarlet, and one of the large pieces with Basic Red, while the the pyjama squares and the other large piece were dyed with Warm Black.

These were left overnight as before, then rinsed in cold water and washed in very hot water. As soon as the fabric was dry, I started to sew.

The squares were put in rows of 3 with alternating colours. They were sewn in the ordinary way with wrong sides together, using a large seam allowance of 2cm (3/4 inch). Continue this for all 12 squares.

Then pin the rows together, alternating the colours. Open the seams out and match them to ensure they'll line up. You may find, as you can see above, that there are some differences in the size of your squares. We're not cutting these exactly so this is to be expected - you can adjust the seams if needed. The size difference can be caused by several things:-

irregularity when measuring before tearing
distortion caused by tearing, particularly in smaller pieces of fabric
possible shrinkage from the very hot wash, particularly if the fabric had only been cold washed previously.

When stitched together, your quilt top will look something like this. It looks pretty unprepossessing at this stage!

Now iron the top from the reverse side, ensuring all the seams are pressed open. Iron the large pieces too.

Lay out on your floor whichever piece you have selected to be the reverse, ensuring that it is FACE DOWN to the floor, then hook safety pins into the carpet to hold it flat (or tape the corners and edges if using a hard floor). I had pins in the corners, one in the middle of the width and 2 along the sides of the longer piece. This is just to ensure that your quilt doesn't have puckers in the back when it's sewn.

Put your middle layer (the batting/wadding) on top, face UP. Hook the safety pins through it as well so it sits smoothly.

Place the top face UP as well, on top of the other layers. Pin the 3 layers together with pins at every seam edge and another in the middle of each square. You can see that my quilt edge is uneven - this is not a disaster. We are not making a family heirloom here, or a gift for the queen - this is a gift of love that will be used. This is the quilt that Nanna will pull over her knees when she has a snooze with the cat, that will wrap around a sick or upset child, that Dad will grab when he's watching the Rugby or the Olympics in the middle of the night or a young mum might snuggle under when feeding the baby. In the end, it's going to look fine, Trust me.

Now we can start sewing - and the quilt will come together really quickly. Use a suitable colour of thread - mine is grey top and bottom. Using the sewing foot as a guide, sew along each seam on BOTH sides . NOTE - Sew down in one direction, turn the quilt around and then sew back the other way. This avoids distortion.

This is what you'll end up with. See why we ironed those big seams open? They're now sewn flat.

After you've done that, sew lines from one corner of each square to its opposite diagonal. If you click on the photo above, you'll see that mine are wavy. If you really want to, you can rule lines lightly and follow them, but there's no need for these lines to be perfectly straight - they are just keeping the 3 layers together and preventing the fabric from sagging. And we don't want anything sagging, do we?

The back should look something like this. Now sew a seam all the way aaround your quilt, about 2 to 2.5 cm (3/4 inch to 1 inch) in from the edge. If your underneath layer is a bit smaller than the top - which can happen - sew this seam from the BACK.

Here you can a close-up of where my layers were slightly different sizes on the front. You don't need to trim these! Leave them as they are, unless there is a huge difference, in which trim them a bit to make them more even.

Then clip all the outer edges closely as before - this is a much quicker job than for the quilt in the first tutorial. Make sure you don't clip through that outer seam, though.

Throw the quilt into a hot wash, and then into the dryer to fluff up the edges. Here's the end result - soft and warm and inviting!

PS - if you're making this for someone else, don't let them see the quilt as you go along. It really doesn't look great until the very end, and they will not be very impressed so see it when only partly made.

Rag Quilt Tutorial part 3

2011-12-01T19:33:00.000+13:00

Now we're getting closer, but there's still quite a bit of work to do yet.

Take 2 squares, with different colours, and pin together as shown. For a rag quilt, you are working the opposite of ordinary sewing - you will be stitching WRONG sides together, so that the seams stand up and are visible on the RIGHT side. Use a BIG seam - mine is 2 cm but you can make it as wide as 2.5cm (an inch). There's a reason for this, as you'll see.

The 2 squares sewn together look like this on the BACK. Note the blue thread.

Repeat, sewing the 48 sets of squares into pairs to make 24. You can chain piece these, too. There is no need to backstitch at the beginning and end of the seams.

If you're having trouble envisaging the end result, here's a quick look at at a more complicated rag quilt. This one is made from ordinary cottons, not flannel. This is "Home Is Where The Hearts Are".

Here's a close-up of the seams. The white bit you can see is cotton batting (or wadding). I've dyed my middle layer, so there will be no white showing on this quilt.

This is what the back looks like. You can see that this is a far more structured design. We are making something simpler and easier.

Now...take 2 pairs of squares, and sew them together. I've tried not to put the same colours together.

You'll end up with 12 units that look like this (above).

Sew 2 of these together to make 6 units, each of 8 squares. Here mine are, laid out on the floor. I rearranged these to make the most pleasing layout.

Now we're going to sew the rows together. Match up the seams of each square with the one underneath, and open out the fabric so you're not sewing through too many layers. Pin through all layers. I've marked the 1st row with a pin in the bottom corner so I know which the first row is.

Repeat until you've sewn all the rows together. Your quilt will look something like this......but don't be disappointed, cos we're not finished yet.

This is the reverse - I wasn't concerned about having colours butting up to one another.

Now for the tiresome part of the quilt - using short-bladed scissors - mine are toenail scissors, but sharp embroidery scissors or snips are just as good - cut through all layers of all seams that are sticking up, avoiding cutting through the seams themselves. Yes, it really IS tiresome, and grew a couple of blisters doing this. You may want to do it over a day or so.

Then put your quilt through a cool wash and a HOT dryer. This design does need a dryer to work properly - use a friend's if you don't have one. (Make sure you clean all the fluff out afterwards, as there'll be lots of small threads in the lint tray)

This is the end result! Well worth waiting for, and the blisters will heal. The cut edges fluff up beautifully, and it's way better looking than it was when you finished the sewing.

Close-up of the seams.

This is a lovely, warm quilt - mine is large enough to use as a lap quilt or tuck myself under if I feel like a snooze on a miserable day. These make great gifts and don't cost the earth. Give one of these to someone you love, and I'll guarantee they'll be delighted.

Rag quilts are "potato chip" quilts - one is never enough, so now I'm planning another one for a friend. This one will be red and grey, and done somewhat differently, with fringing only on the outer edges. Watch this space for the tutorial.

Rag Quilt Tutorial part 2

2011-12-01T19:00:00.000+13:00

After leaving the dyed fabric to batch overnight, it's time to rinse the excess dye. Use cold water for this, and rinse till most of the dye is gone. You will need your gloves on for this.

Squeeze excess water from the fabric, and place each colour separately.

Wash at the hottest temperature your machine can do - mine is 90 degrees C - you can wash colours together. However, if you have yellows or any very pale colours, they are best washed separately.

Here's the Blue-Violet fabric, and below is the Grape.

I didn't really massage the dye properly into the green fabrics - the more you manipulate the fabric in the dye, the more even the result. While I prefer a mottled look, these could have been done better.

This is the nightie dyed with Jade.

When they're all dry, here's what I have to work with.

I've decided my quilt will be made from 48 8 inch squares - 6 squares across and 8 squares down. I take the Jade fabric, which I want to have on the top, and tear it into 8" strips.

Snip the edge with the scissors and tear. Don't worry about removing loose threads. Some fabric pieces are too small so I put those aside for another project.

Do the same thing with the other fabrics. I will need 144 squares in total, as I will have 3 layers. I've decided that the top will be jade, green and blue-violet, all the centre squares will ben grape, and the back will be purple and green.

Select 3 squares, and place them on top of one another.

Set up your sewing machine with one colour on the top and another in the bobbin. I have a brown thread on top and blue underneath - that way, I can easily tell the fronts from the backs. Stitch the first set of squares diagonally from one corner to the opposite corner.

When you reach the other corner, don't cut your thread - do a few stitches, then bring your second set of squares into place and repeat. This is called "chain piecing". Repeat until you have 48 squares.

Then do the same thing again on the opposite sides so that you end up with a cross (above) on each set of squares. You will see that I have made no attempt to have my sewing lines perfectly straight - this is a rag quilt, after all.

Here are all my 48 squares, sewn with a cross, and sorted into piles depending on the colour of the top square.

Take a coffee break at this point - you're doing well!

How to make a rag quilt from recycled flannel/flannelette sheets & nightwear - part 1

2011-11-20T14:46:00.000+13:00

We live in a consumer society, always being urged to buy new things. I'm trying to move towards a simpler lifestyle by recycling things. I don't mean that I rummage through skips and dumpsters to find food and so on - there are many things that are given to hospice or op shops (a.k.a. thrift shops) that can have a new lease of life in some other way.

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you will have seen the Traveller's Blanket that I've been making. I loved the soft, warm flannel this is made of, so I decided I would make some rag quilts from old sheets and nightwear. In New Zealand, these are made from flannelette (very similar to flannel).

This tutorial is written for anyone who is thinking the same was as I am. NO special equipment is needed - you need access to a sewing machine, however, and basic sewing skills. That's all. We're going to overdye the fabrics with colours of our choice, and this first part of the tutorial will show you how to do this. You can buy fabric dye (Procion is the best type) from some craft shops or buy online from Tillia Dyes (www.tillia.co.nz). You will also need soda ash, which is the dye fixative.

I bought some (mainly odd) sheets and some nightwear from op shops. ("op" stands for opportunity, if you're not a Kiwi). The most I paid for anything was $8 for a pair of double sheets with pillowcases. I bought plenty - this is enough for a number of quilts.

Don't use any fabric that's very thin or worn out, as it won't last. If you have sheets with holes in them, make sure you're using the better fabric nearer the edges. If you're buying nightwear, go for big sizes that give you more fabric for your dollars. Look for patterns and colours that have light or medium backgrounds - you won't be able to overdye a really dark fabric.

Mostly, the goods you buy will have been washed - we're going to wash the fabric in very hot water after dyeing so don't worry too much about washing everything first. For the first quilt, which is for me, I am using the nightie at the front, the blue sheet on the right, and the pillowcases from the floral sheet set on the left. I've cut one of the floral sheets in half to use as the middle layer instead of batting. First, I tore all the seams off to give me fabric pieces or strips. Don't worry about the size of these at this stage.

Sometimes, the fabric will tear into strips by itself as you rip it. That's ok, unless they're very narrow in which case, discard these. You'll also find that not all the seams on sheets are on the straight grain. You can discard the seams, plackets, cuffs etc that you've torn off.

Now for the fun part! If you've never used dyes before, follow this process:

1. Clear the bench. You don't want any plates, cutlery or food around where you're working.

2. Cover the whole bench with a good layer of newspaper. I have a good mixing jar (on left) that has 100ml gradations and a tight-fitting lid, ideal for mixing dye in; some disposable cups, disposable gloves, a measuring spoon and a range of green and purple dyes.

3. Mix the soda ash (3/4 cup to 3 litres of hot water) in a bucket. Unused mixture will keep if sealed in an ice-cream container or similar. Keep this mixture away from children and animals. Use something to stir this with that is NOT used eating.

4. Grab some LARGE Snaplock or Ziploc bags. I recommend these over ordinary plastic bags for 2 reasons - firstly, they're good quality and don't usually leak and secondly, it's a big help to be able to seal the tops. You're going to use these to put the dye and fabric in, and believe me, you don't want the bags falling over and spilling.

5. Mix the first dye as per the instructions - usually, 1 teaspoon to 100 mls of hot or warm water for a dark colour. Hot water mixes more easily. Shake to mix or stir well. As a guide, I'm using about 300mls of dye for each of my bags - that's just over a cupful, and is plenty for this amount of fabric.

Wet the first fabric that you're dyeing - this is the nightie I'm using here - and again, hot water is best as it penetrates the fabric more easily and ensures that it's wet through. Yes, you can dye dry fabric but it doesn't work as well. Pour the dye into the first bag, and have the wet (but squeezed) fabric handy.

6. Open the wet fabric out to put it in the bag with the dye. If it goes in in a ball, the dye will have trouble getting through all the layers.

7. Squadge (that's a technical term - just kidding! it's the noise the dye and fabric makes as you squeeze it) the fabric around in the dye. You can do this from the outside of the bag, or stick your (gloved) hands right in these so that the dye gets into the fabric evenly.

8. This is Jade Green. Don't get too excited over the colour yet - it lightens up when you add the soda ash, and dyed fabric is ALWAYS darker when wet. How much soda ash to add? Around the same amount as the dye, so about 250-300mls (a cupful). Squeeze this through the fabric too. You only need to squeeze it enough to ensure it's mixed thoroughly - no need to give the bags a full body massage.

9. The floral pillowcases are Blue-Violet, and the sheet is being dyed in other greens (Brightest Green and Emerald Green). Same process as before. As you finish with each colour, seal the tops of the bags and set aside.

See why we need all that newspaper?

10. I'm using half a double sheet for the centre layer, and this is too big to fit in a bag. I have some of these plastic bins that I bought from The Warehouse for $6 each, so I'm using one of these for this large piece. This time, I need 500 mls (2 cups) of dye liquid, and the same of soda ash.

11. This is how it looks. The colour is Grape with some Blu-Violet added to link it in with the pillowcase pieces which will be on the back and front of the quilt. You are going to see this layer, which is why I'm dyeing it. Unlike a conventional quilt where the batting is hidden inbetween the layers, it's visible in this one. How? You'll see in Part 2, when we come to put the layers together and start sewing the quilt.

12. I'm using another of these bins to hold the bags of dyed fabric. It's best to leave these overnight or for 6 to 8 hours at least to get the best depth of colour, so put them somewhere that small children and animals won't knock them over or get into them. Tomorrow, I'll rinse the fabric out and give it a hot wash.

Nearly the end of year 1

2011-11-08T20:14:00.000+13:00

This is the penultimate week of my first year of my Arts degree. Hard to believe that the year has gone so quickly. My focus at present is just to get all my assignments up to standard and submitted. One of my papers is Photography, so here are a few shots that I've taken this term :

This is Cressy, and I submitted this photo for the "Blur" assignment (9/10)

This photo of classmate Ben was submitted for "Colour Portrait" (9/10)...

...and this one of classmate Emma was for "B&W Portrait" (8.5/10)

This is my latest photo, a black and white landscape. No mark yet. I took this at around 7.30am on Saturday, inbetween the hail and sleet showers.

800 and still going!

2011-10-24T19:22:00.001+13:00

There's been a bit going on since my last post - I've moved house, for one thing. Here's some photos of the new house.

My room, which gets the morning sun. Several of the rooms have pretty plaster ceilings.

The dining room which leads into the kitchen on the left.

A bit of the lounge, which faces the street.

The little patio area out the back.

And here are the twins..just being themselves.

#799

2011-10-10T07:30:00.000+13:00

Yes, indeedy, this is post number 799.

Much is going on behind the scenes. It's the last term of year, and Photography 2 is in full swing. There's always a lot to do in Photography class, and in this one, I'm learning manual controls which I've never used before. There's another Art History essay due at the end of the month, and a set of drawings of people at work also need to be done. In addition, I move house this Friday, with the help of my lovely friends from class. And despite last week's extraction of a wisdom tooth, I'm still suffering wall-to-wall toothache, so it's back to the dentist as soon as possible. Of course, I would have preferred to move house in the holidays but once my old house was sold, I just wanted to get into a place of my own as soon as I could. Watch for photos.

This is rare Auckland Island piggy...

..and I'm not sure exactly what sort this is. They are in the animal section in Queen's Park.

The lovely native kowhai tree in flower (sophora tetraptera for the botanists).

Falling water photographed at slow speed - part of my class project.

The Twins pretending to be a sheepskin rug.

The fountain taken at an unusual speed.

Some of the lovely flowers in the Winter Gardens.

And lastly, our native kakabeak (clianthus puniceus), found only in New Zealand.

Blank pages

2011-10-04T16:20:00.000+13:00

Yes, I've been suffering from the dreaded Blank Pages Syndrome, and have not managed to work up the enthusiasm (or even had a topic) for a blog post for several weeks. I've had quite a bit of fatigue lately which has hampered me from achieving anything much as well as mysteriously wasting a lot of time. Anyone who has depression, ME or similar health issues will know what I'm talking about.

As a result, I'm trying to kickstart my creativity, which is currently hiding. I've joined The Sketchbook Challenge, which you can find more about here. It's free and it looks like fun. In the meantime, here's a few photos from Queen's Park.

Behind the scenes

2011-09-13T16:28:00.000+12:00

You may be forgiven for thinking that I'm not doing anything creative. I am, but I just haven't been showing it. I actually have a couple of pieces of partly completed knitting (a top-down cardigan and a curved scarf) but neither look very good partially made so I'm waiting till they're finished to photograph them. The cardigan in particular, being knitted all in one piece, just looks like a huge pile of nothing in particular. At present, I'm working on these:

The red one is quite hard to show - it has a diamond pattern done in purl stitches. These are both made in fine merino and are destined for my mother. I made her some for Mothers' Day and she wears them a lot as she has arthritis in her hands, so I decided I would make her some more.

When I'm not knitting, I'm doing more on the Travellers' Blanket.

One thing that all my work is featuring - bits of poodle hair. While poodles don't shed like most dogs, they DO lose fine wispy bits when their coats are very long. Not for much longer, as they're booked in to be pruned next week. I hope the worst of the bad weather is over, as they're going to take some adjusting.

Hiolidays

2011-09-12T07:34:00.000+12:00

Yes, it's holiday time again, and I have 2 weeks off before Term 4 kicks in. I have had a lot going on in the past few weeks - the Rangiora house has sold at last - after a year - and I've bought a little house here in Invercargill. I'll be moving around the middle of October and I can't wait to get back into a home of my own - I really don't enjoy renting. There'll be more space for me and the dogs, and as I'm only moving to the next street, I can still walk to classes and take the dogs on the walkways alongside the river.

Here's some more spring photographs to brighten your day - especially if you're heading towards winter.

This is the Phalenopsis orchid that I have growing in my kitchen- usually they require a lot more heat than this, as the room is unheated overnight and during the day in winter when I'm not there. Not a large flower, but there are 7 of them, and they last well. The rest of the photos were taken on a foray to nearby Queen's Park yesterday.

Spring is sprung!

2011-09-05T07:40:00.000+12:00

Yes, spring is definitely here and the days are noticeably longer. My house in Rangiora has sold, and will settle in another 6 weeks. I'm in the process of buying a little house down here in Invercargill, but that's not going to confirm till the end of this week. I didn't time it very well as this is the last week of term and I'm up to my eyebrows in assignments. The Art History essay is finished, but I'm still working on the website that I'm creating for Web & Graphic Design.

Here's some spring photos:

And just for fun - the Gala t fountains after some prankster had put detergent in them.

The continuing story..

2011-08-29T07:22:00.000+12:00

The Traveller's Blanket is my main creative outlet at present, apart from knitting which is always on the go. Perhaps I'll show some of that next time. For now, I've been concentrating on the embroidery as I have a lot on my mind and hand stitching is very soothing.

The large one I wasn't happy with in the last post has been added to, and I like it better now.

And here are 4 new ones.

More embroidery

2011-08-21T19:52:00.000+12:00

The irregular shapes of some of the circles make the embroidery rather challenging - I have to decide whether to treat the shape as essentially a circle, or whether to embroider in line with the white areas.

Mostly, I have tried to keep a circular design. I'm not sure that this large double circle above has come out very well. Perhaps I'll come back to this later if I get some inspiration.

This smaller circle works better, although it has irregular features. I can't find my box of embroidery cottons, so today I bought 20 more so I can get some more colours onto this. Hopefully, the silks should arrive soon.

Linocutting class

2011-08-20T19:21:00.000+12:00

Today I went to a local linocutting class, to pick up from where I left off a year ago after doing Dijanne Cevaal's online class. Here's a few photos of my work:

As usual, I can't resist playing with colours.

For oversea readers, these are nikau palms, New Zealand's only native palm tree. I drew these from an original design done in glass by my classmate, Ben Christensen.

I particularly like the orange one on the right, which I made after adding yellow to the red and blue linocut at left.

Here's a beautiful building done by Lesley du Mez of Southland Education (with permission).

Lastly, here's a sketch done in Drawing this week just to show you that my drawing has improved.

Today's Embroidery

2011-08-17T20:00:00.000+12:00

If you're an experienced embroiderer, you may think my geometric designs with their uneven stitches and wonky shapes are nothing more than poor workmanship. However, the circles I have dyed into the blanket are uneven, and each one is slightly different. As a result, I decided it would be pointless to try to produce perfectly shaped designs. Instead, I'm aiming for "overall effect". The Blanket is not being entered into any competitions, and it's for my pleasure. I hope others with no real embroidery experience (like me) will feel that they are able to attempt a project of this kind. Do please leave me comments of your thoughts. Thanks.

The designs all come out of my head - when I doodle, I always draw geometric and symmetrical designs like these.

Embroidery

2011-08-16T21:23:00.000+12:00

I haven't done any sort of embroidery apart from blanket stitch around applique since I was about 10 years old, when we had to do simple embroidered stitches on a tray cloth in Sewing class. Some of the other members of the group are using photos from their trips as their inspiration, but I just can't think of how to translate my photos into the stitches for this blanket, so I'm just letting the circles dictate to me. I find hand stitching to be very soothing, so I'm enjoying this.

Here's the first one:

And here's a gratuitous cute animal photo of the poodles reclining on my bed. No, they don't sleep with me at night!

Traveller's Blanket back

2011-08-14T20:05:00.000+12:00

After dyeing, washing and ironing the flannel for the back, I had a horrible realisation - my top fabric had stretched widthwise when I ironed it, and my backing flannel had shrunk 5% during the very hot wash after dyeing. Result : 2 pieces of fabric that started out more or less the same size, but ended up with the top longer and wider. Aaaaargh!

Fortunately, I had bought extra flannel, so I dyed that with a mixture of the 3 parts special mix red and 2 parts chocolate brown. This came out a lovely rich colour and I liked it better than the nutmeg, which has been consigned to the middle of the Blanket.

This is what the top and back look like, and I've placed the embroidery threads on them so you can see how they look together. There will be other threads, but these will form the base for the embroidery.

I'm really pleased with the colours - I wanted them to be rich and glowing, and I want the Blanket to be a sumptuous and voluptuous textile piece. Tonight, I've pieced the flannel to fit the top, and pinned it all together, with the aim of starting embroidering tomorrow.

Traveller's Blanket top

2011-08-14T10:41:00.000+12:00

Here it is, and I'm happy both with the colour and with the circles. I made them different sizes, with a few doubles for interest.

I'm not so concerned about the depth of shade of the backing and middle, so I'm off to rinse and wash those now.

Dyeing the fabric for the Traveller's Blanket

2011-08-14T09:12:00.000+12:00

I mixed up a special red for my Blanket top - mainly Turkey Red, but with the addition of Scarlet, Carmine Red, Cotton Black, Deep Purple and Fuchsia. I want a rich red. The top is currently in the wash, so I'll wait till it's washed and ready to go before photographing it.

Some of you may be wondering why I used cotton threads to bind the circles - I am not looking for white areas such as you would get with synthetic threads that won't allow the dye the penetrate them, but rather for a paler circular zone that I can embroider around.

The middle and back of the Blanket are going to be made of lovely soft flannel. I decided to dye them Nutmeg - a rich orange-brown. The darker piece is the back, and the lighter shade is for the centre.

Getting ready - the start of the Traveller's Blanket

2011-08-13T17:12:00.000+12:00

The muslin tied before immersing in dye. I am aiming for a rich crimson red.

This is what I tied the fabric with - soft cotton string, and a thinner cotton yarn.

I have all sorts of embroidery cottons, but I bought these earthy Eastern colours especially for this project.

And for pizzazz, I bought some bright rayon threads.

Travellers' Blanket

2011-08-07T12:37:00.001+12:00

Immersed as I am in a traditional art degree, with side helpings of photography and web design, my textile art has gone out the window. While I'm learning to appreciate frescoes and suchlike, I have not lost my love for fabrics which I still consider to be vastly underrated. In order to get inspired, I've enrolled in Dijanne Cevaal's online course "Travellers' Blanket". You can see more about it on her blog, and here's a photo of what she's doing.

Yes indeed, that is embroidery that you can see. This is actually a quilted project, because it has 3 layers.

Dijanne has recently had her Gypsy Blanket published in Magic Patch magazine - here it is:-

Click on the image to make it larger so you can see all the wonderful stitching.

Interested in doing the Travellers' Blanket after seeing these? You can enroll for only A$50 and it's open till August 13th. Contact Dijanne by email - it's on her blog.

Something old, something new

2011-07-24T15:34:00.000+12:00

Here's a lovely sunset captured on Tuesday.

Today, the same view is looking a bit different - we have snow. Not much though, and it's not staying very long.

It's the perfect sort of day to be doing things indoors. I have bought myself an iPad, and have made it a quilted cover from some work of mine that was never completed - alas, I have a lot of that.

The inner cover then goes inside this felted bag, made from an op shop (thrift shop for overseas readers) jersey that I felted. There's enough room in the felted bag for the USB cable and plug as well.

Colour and more colour

2011-07-17T18:50:00.000+12:00

Today I went to Queens Park and photographed some flowers in close-up. Above is a white poppy.

This is part of an orchid.

Cineraria flowers.

Inside a vireya rhododendron.

Hoop petticoat daffodil.

I've forgotten the name of these hanging plants - the flowers are usually red.

Hibiscus.

Hellebore.

Winter Medley

2011-07-07T10:37:00.000+12:00

Midwinter can be a dreary time, and while the past month or so has seen temperatures not as cold as usual (I hesitate to say "warmer"), we have had many dull, grey, miserable days. Here's a medley of photos to brighten them up.

Here's "Radiance" hanging in my class exhibition in the SIT gallery.

The first flowers opening on my Australian orchid, growing in my kitchen. There are 6 spikes altogether.

Seven, my Manx cat, in reflective mode.

A piece of wintersweet that I picked while out walking

One of the first poppies open in the park.

Baby Tuataras at the Museum.

Begonia flowers in the Winter Gardens.

Hello Shortest Day

2011-06-21T18:07:00.000+12:00

Tonight is the Winter Solstice here in New Zealand, making this the shortest day and tonight the longest night. It takes about a month for us to notice that the days are getting longer, but there is a psychological boost when you know that the Shortest Day has passed. In the South Island, particularly right down south where I now live, we have many very dull, cold, dreary days when the sun doesn't shine. This time last year, I was in France, and missed 2 months of winter. This year, I have to suck it up and be here.

The up side of winter (and there IS one) is that I was able to take these photos of roses in the Queens Park gardens -

These are the images I have chosen for my final Photography 1 asssignment, have printed them out at 8" x 10" size. They are being exhibited (along with my classmates' photos) on the ground floor of our campus building. Apparently, the exhibition is attracting favourable comments from staff and students.

Warning...contains actual quilted matter

2011-06-12T17:01:00.000+12:00

Sample quilt made this weekend for the upcoming landscape class that I'm teaching.

Happy birthday, Queenie

2011-06-06T18:11:00.000+12:00

This was the last long weekend we have until late October. Of course, it's not really the Queen's birthday this weekend, but we like to pretend it is.

I spent quite a bit of time taking photographs in and around Invercargill. It's pretty flat here so the city lacks dramatic landscapes - I had to make the best of what I could find. Here's some of my favourites -

I tried out my telephoto lens for the first time at Bluff.

There were some quite strange clouds on the way back.

Looking at Riverton bridge.

Windsurfers at Colac Bay

The pond by the aviary in Queen's Park

Roof of the winter gardens

The fountain at Queen's Park.

Miscellany

2011-05-29T21:09:00.000+12:00

It's hard to find time to blog at present due to the demands of study and part-time work, so here's some photos from that part of my life.

A drawing of the Railway Hotel turret - my drawing isn't great but it's getting a bit better.

These photos are form our latest class excursion out into the CBD to take street photos. The idea was to take photos from more unusual angles. I was standing on a chair for this photo of the woman with pink hair.

This is a pigeon's - eye view from the first floor of the Library.

I went up to the 3rd floor of a building and asked to take photos out one of their windows. Here, the automatic focus landed on the street light pole instead of the pedestrians, so I've faded out the photo edges.

Just an ordinary shot of the SIT arcade, with sepia tones added.

Photography is our main class this term - you can tell, can't you?

This and that

2011-05-22T14:13:00.000+12:00

The photos in the last post were taken just prior to a spell of bad weather - thunderstorms, hail and heavy rain. Here's what the hail looked like in my little back yard on Sunday night.

I have only just today taken the dogs back to by the river as I feared that there would be flooding of some of the ponds, as indeed there was. To my surprise, the whole river must also have come right up on the other side and would have flowed over the grass where the dogs are running in that last photo down to the ponds, which are still very full. The ground is also sodden. The dogs don't care, though.

Despite being really busy with my studies, I am knitting this capelet, though mine will open down the front. I want it to be a little something I can fling over my shoulders to keep warm. It has big fat cables and dropped stitches.

This is actually a raspberry colour which I find really hard to photograph so that the colour is correct. I'm about halfway up the pattern, then there's the big collar bit.

I'm hoping to teach some classes at the LQS, so last weekend (during aforementioned bad weather), I made (but have not yet bound) this Salted Peanut table runner using reversible quilting methods. Of course, the table runner is just a way of practising the actual technique, which I quite enjoy doing.

Something old, something outside..

2011-05-15T18:37:00.000+12:00

Tree of Life

Radiance

The weka statue in Esk St, Invercargill

Some scenes of the wilderness area near the river where I take the dogs after work.

There are a number of ponds..

..some with mini islands. There are mown areas, and the dogs love it there.

A walk by the river

2011-05-09T06:18:00.000+12:00

I started Photography 1 last week, and this is the main subject this term, with the emphasis on composition. On Wednesday, the class went for a walk by the river to take photos. Here are a few of mine.

I took quite a few shots involving rust.

This is my classmate Ben adding a focal point to some broken windows.

All these were taken with my lil' point-and-shoot Sony Cybershot, a 4.1 megapixel camera. I'm unsure how far I want to go with photography but I really enjoy it. I'll see.

Gifts

2011-05-02T19:09:00.000+12:00

Now that I'm a student, money is tight; so when a gift is called for, I'm making them where possible.

This is a cowl made from dyed and knitted cotton (by request) as a birthday present for my son's girlfriend, Catherine.

And these raspberry merino handwarmers are a Mothers' day gift for my mum who has arthritis in her hands. These will keep her hands warm without limiting the use of her fingers.

Symposium classes

2011-04-28T11:05:00.000+12:00

This time around, I taught 2 classes, each 2 days long. They were "Pole Dancing with Shibori" and "Faux Batik - Using Resists". Following are examples of class work.

The above photos are all from the shibori class. We also discharged fabric (took the colour out) as you can see in the last 2.

This is Jenny from Australia, who did both my classes.

A piece of silk shibori - the colours come out quite differently from cotton.

Here we were using paste, glue and commercial resists to pattern fabric, then adding layers of dyes and paints.

From the Exhibitions

2011-04-26T19:20:00.000+12:00

From the main exhibitions -
Lynn Ogle - "One Flax Flying". I liked the way this was divided into 3.

Thelma McGough - "Black Saturday" . I liked the colours in this memorial to the Victorian bush fire victims.

Griet Lombard - "Sunset at Waitarere Beach". An novel way to portray a sunset. Great colours.

Clare Smith - "A Change in the Weather". Lovely quilt in a limited palette.

Wendy Ward - "Michael's Quilt". Personally, I hate doing paper piecing although I admire the results. Here the colours are really well utilised.

Faye Quayle - "Wiltshire Summer Fields". Lovely lime and emerald greens mixed with browns.

After this, I ran out of batteries. You know how it is. Sorry I couldn't show you more.

Later with fresh batteries - the Silk Road Exhibition for which I have no catalogue. Sorry. This was the winning piece that I liked for its colours (no surprise there).

I think the next 2 are from the City & Guilds display. Again, I liked the use of colour.

These last 2 are part of the Western Canada Fibre Art Network Exhibition. The first features a really interesting layout.

This one was digitally printed - very clear image, and (wait for it..) great colours.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - fibre art in New Zealand is as good as anywhere in the world. Well done, everyone.

Quilts from Symposium - Tutors' Exhibition

2011-04-26T12:27:00.001+12:00

Sue Wademan - "My Piece of Paradise"

Part of Jocelyn Leath's "Where the Water Flows"

Gloria Loughman - unnamed

Yvonne Brown - "Stone Story 111 - Ely Cathedral"

Jane Sassaman - "Life Totem"

Part of Jeannette de Nicolis Meyer's "Essential Maps 6"

Karyn Walton - "Traces & Memories"

Cheryl Comfort - Unfinished Business"

As usual, I only photograph what interests me. The Tutors' Exhibition is not competitive - it is for the tutors to bring along and display a piece of their work.

Tutors and temptations

2011-04-25T12:51:00.001+12:00

Jane Sassaman, Bonnie McCaffery, Jan Krentz - all from USA

Karen Brodersen (NZ) and Larkin van Horn (USA)

Cynthia Corbin (USA), Lisa Walton (Australia), Yvonne Brown (UK). We were all out to dinner at the Thai restaurant. It's very nice, but it wasn't the temptation....

...This is the temptation, and the only thing I bought ! 100 grams of red/magenta/crimson laceweight merino from Touch Yarns, who had a stand in the Merchants' Mall.

Setting the scene

2011-04-24T14:34:00.002+12:00

The view up the Frankton arm of Lake Wakatipu - on the way to Queenstown.

There was a light sprinkling of snow the night before.

From the primary school - one of the Symposium venues...

..and further around - the snow is melting.

The gondolas. Yes, I'm too chicken to go up there.

View from the lakefront out one way...

...and the other. That's the SS Earnslaw, a steam powered boat.

You may need to click on this one to get a better look at the paraponters. They often land in the primary school grounds.

The lakefront showing the lovely colours of claret ashes.

Statue of William Rees, an early settler and sheep farmer in the district.

Looking back at the town on the way home, soon after sunrise.

More photos coming - tutors and classes. Watch this space.

Finished and nearly ready..

2011-04-18T06:37:00.000+12:00

Piles of Blended fabric that I'm taking to symposium to sell. I have to drop the dogs off at the kennels, then come home to pick up all the boxes and stuff that I'm taking.

Here's the finished stitched version of "Aotearoa". It's 52 x 42 cm (20" x 16") and made of the aforementioned Blended fabric. The colours are a lot quieter and more subtle than I usually work with but I wanted to showcase my special fabric in this quilt.

I'll take photos at Symposium and post them after I get back.

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to symposium I go..

2011-04-17T15:21:00.000+12:00

This is "Aotearoa" - the Maori name for New Zealand. The drawing I took this from was done by a classmate and he has given permission for me to interpret it in cloth. This is the raw image - it's been cut out and fused to a background, but that's all. It's currently being stitched and will be ready to take to Symposium with me tomorrow as my Tutor Quilt for the exhibition.

For more on the quilting symposium, go here.

See you in a week. Happy Easter.

Dyeing day

2011-04-10T14:08:00.000+12:00

Today is fine and sunny with little wind - perfect for my type of dyeing. I need plenty of Blended fabric to take to Symposium to sell.

These are all one metre pieces and they will be chopped into fat quarters for sale.

The line was full so I took pieces down as soon as they were dry. After that, they have to be washed! It's a long slow process.

I had dye left over, so I grabbed a couple of calico tab top curtains that I'd found in the spare room, and sprayed dye over them. I'll try to use them somewhere.

Daylight Saving Sunday

2011-04-03T08:23:00.000+12:00

Although I'm not at all happy with the tension on my Pfaff and the poor job made of servicing it, I'm attempting to complete "Summer in Provence" to take as my quilt for the tutors' exhibition at Symposium There is now a mere 15 days until I leave, and I also have some assignments to complete in that time, so sewing time is limited. I've decided to quilt the rust-dyed centres in a stones pattern. No thoughts yet on what design to use for the block borders. Any suggestions?

Of course, I'm always knitting something. Purple fingerless gloves, just a plain design, to go with the purple hat. A matching cowl is on the needles.

As is this feather and fan scarf, made with 50/50 merino and silk.

A bit of a treat

2011-03-31T17:48:00.000+13:00

Each year, I like to treat myself in some way. This year, I decided to join the Socks That Rock sock club. Every 2 months, the club sends out a skein of hand-dyed superwash merino & nylon, and 2 patterns that you can choose from. I had a few gauge problems with the first shipment, plus the colours are not ones I would usually pick, so a partly-completed sock is languishing on my coffee table. I have been more focussed on knitting some hats, scarves and fingerless gloves in preparation for winter in colours that I liked. However, the latest skein, received yesterday, is gorgeous.

And here are the 2 patterns that take advantage of its beauty.

Today at lunchtime, 2 classmates and I visited the local Salvation Army family store. As well as a long lined black coat (cost $3.25), I bought these 3 small embroidered tablecloths for a total of $5.

I LOVE old embroidered linen. This sort of thing is just not made anymore. Mostly, these tablecloths are very small, far too small for a modern table, but I have some old furniture that they are perfect for. I hate to see them discarded and unwanted in thrift shops.

Warning! Contains actual dyeing and stitching

2011-03-27T14:10:00.000+13:00

Here's "Summer in Provence" in its raw state, tacked onto my bedroom wall. I will attempt to complete it for Symposium, machines willing.

Between showers yesterday, I was able to get 6 metres of Blended fabric dyed - this has to be done outside and hung on the line to dry before I can wash it, so it quite weather-dependent. I'm pleased with the results - you can see my new colour Coral in these pieces. The darker red is Carmine Red, a Jacquard colour that I have a little left of. It wasn't too cold so the Turquoise didn't all wash out as it sometimes does.

Gratuitous cute animal shot of Frodo, Cressy and Seven all relaxing on my bed.

Summer in Provence

2011-03-26T15:30:00.000+13:00

Back here, in mid November, I posted about dyeing fabric for a quilt called "Summer in Provence". This was just before the quilts for Pike River miners' families took over my life (over 8,800 blocks to date - amazing, huh?).

Now that the National Quilting Symposium is only 3 weeks away and my Pfaff has ostensibly (but not actually) been repaired, I have decided to complete this as the quilt that I can show in the Tutors' exhibition.
Naturally, I am again having tension problems. I have decided not to make the quilt as shown in the pattern, just put together the 9 squares. This may, or may not, happen, depending on my machines. I will try to keep calm, and hunt for the Janome cords and foot, although this machine was also giving me tension problems before I moved.

Before the Pfaff tension bombed out, I DID manage to do so stitching on the Rust Madonna that I made some time back. I want to enter it in an exhibition at a local art gallery - previously, a friend had insisted strenuously that I not stitch it but now she is no longer on the scene, I will do as I please - which is what the piece needs.

Here's the Madonna plain and unadorned, just fused and with drawn features.

And here she is again, with some stitching that I think greatly improves her. You may have to click on the photo to see it.

Lazy Sunday afternoon

2011-03-13T19:14:00.000+13:00

The poodles were relaxing......

..I was admiring my new, bright wool colours....I have already knitted a couple of things with the pink that I'll show you once they're completed, and I've started a hat in the purple.....

...I made that Kiwi favourite, Rice Bubble Slice...my version has added hazelnuts...

..and I made calzone for my lunches this week.. Here's one before I sealed it up - I cooked onion, peppers, broccoli and mushrooms, added some tinned asparagus and grated cheese.

Here's the end results - they look like big Cornish pasties but have no meat, and the dough is my trusty bread recipe.

Home comforts

2011-03-06T12:39:00.000+13:00

While I move quite often, I haven't been in rented accommodation for many, many years. This has been a necessity in Invercargill, as I was unable to sell my Rangiora home. It's been quite hard to settle into a place that is so much smaller than I'm used to, but I'm trying to make it feel like home. Here's the view of the unit from the teeny tiny back yard. All the plants in pots are mine.

Who's been sleeping in my bed? Cressy makes herself comfortable in my bedroom so she can keep an eye on the cat, who spends most of the day there.

Frodo, on the other hand, is a couch potato, and perfectly happy if he has a couch to lie on. And roll over on.

With limited space and so much packed away in boxes, and being at school full-time, I haven't been doing any dyeing-related crafts. However, I have been knitting. I'm whizzing up a selection of fingerless gloves and mitts - here's one I've made from brushed wool. Yes, I've made the other one as well but I need that hand to hold the camera.

The multi-coloured scarf is completed. Now I'll make a hat to match. I want to keep walking to school as long as the weather isn't TOO bad. Currently, I'm averaging 5 km a day (just over 3 miles for the non-metric readers). Invercargill, being the southern-most city of New Zealand, is prone to quite a bit of wind and also rain.

Here's the first hat I've completed since I've been here (which will be a month tomorrow). Very dull colours for me, but it's just a utilitarian beanie.

Only 6 weeks now till the Quilting Symposium in Queenstown - I have a fair bit of work to do to get ready for that, so will need to use my time wisely.

Getting back to normal

2011-02-28T07:15:00.000+13:00

My degree course is in Visual Arts, and one of my classes involves drawing organic objects. I have never had any training in art, so this stuff is pretty challenging for me. Here's a rose stem I drew on Thursday. I missed most of the Tuesday class due to the earthquake - I couldn't concentrate after I received the text from Sophie saying she was stuck in her building, so went home. Now I need to get more drawings done to catch up.

I went shopping on Saturday morning - restorative shopping, that is, as opposed to shopping for necessities. I bought some yarn I wouldn't normally buy (it's acrylic) but I really liked the colours, and it's boucle so has plenty of texture and only a simple stitch is needed. I've stopped watching the TV footage of the quake as I find it too stressful Instead, I watched DVDs over the weekend, and knitted this stocking stitch scarf. I'll just knit to the end of the ball which should make a good-sized scarf, and then make a hat and gloves or mittens from the 2nd ball. Like many handcrafts, knitting is soothing so always makes me feel better.

My City of Ruins - Christchurch earthquake 22.02.2011

2011-02-23T07:24:00.001+13:00

Just a couple of scenes from the devastating 6.3 magnitude aftershock yesterday - so shallow that it caused major damage and deaths that the original 7.1 quake did not. How cruel that this shock should come 5 1/2 months later, just as the city was getting back on its feet.

Christchurch is not my home town, but I lived there for 5 years as a child, and started school there at Halswell Primary, which was quite badly damaged in the original quake. I've also lived just outside the city boundaries for 6 of the past 8 years, firstly in Lyttelton (close to the epicentre of this shock, and Christchurch's port) and later in Rangiora, about 25km north-west.

What was most distressing for me about yesterday's quake was the text I received from my daughter Sophie telling me that a big quake had struck and that she was stuck in her building. As she works on the 15th floor of a highrise in the centre of the city, I spent a tense few hours waiting to hear about her safety. Communication via text was patchy. Fortunately, she and workmates were rescued from the 10th floor by the fire brigade, as stairwells below this level had collapsed. They were drenched by fire hoses but unhurt.

Unfortunately, not everyone was so lucky. The death toll this morning stands at 38 identified bodies, but it could be as high as 300. People are still trapped in collapsed buildings.

Julie Rose, who took over the Pike River Quilt Project after I left the district, has suggested that surplus quilts be distributed to earthquake victims who have lost their homes and belongings. I have agreed with her plan. I hope those who have contributed blocks or quilts will be happy with this. I feel it is appropriate.

Journey to the ends of the earth

2011-02-11T14:01:00.001+13:00

Well, one end of New Zealand anyway. Today I made a foray to Bluff, the southernmost town in New Zealand. I visited Stirling Point, where State Highway 1, the main road that goes the full length of New Zealand (except for Cook Strait, naturally) starts or ends, depending on your viewpoint.

You can read more about Bluff here. It was settled by Europeans in 1824, making it one of the country's oldest permanent towns.

The coastline here is quite rugged, with lots of rocks and kelp.

A key feature of Stirling Point is a new chain link sculpture which illustrates the mythological link between the canoe of Maui, Te Waka a Maui (the South Island) and its anchor Te Punga o Te Waka a Maui (Stewart Island). An identical chain link is attached to Stewart Island.

Bluff is about 30km from Invercargill. The surrounding landscape is all flat, apart from Bluff Hill which is an extinct volcano, 265 metres (870 ft) high. There is logging on the hill, which makes this view over the town and port look particularly unattractive.

This is the start of the spiral walkway leading up to the lookout.

Looking back at the peninsula and towards Invercargill. That's my little red VW Golf in the parking lot. The road up here is steep, 2nd gear to come up and go down.

Normal service will resume shortly

2011-02-09T09:09:00.000+13:00

After 2 hectic days and nearly 9 hours of travelling, I'm now in Invercargill, trying to get used to a space that's about 1/3 the size of my Rangiora home. The climate is fresh here, with cool winds and rain featuring more often than Canterbury but at least I will be spared the mid-30s temperatures that I find so trying.

Here's a couple of Pike River quilts that arrived before I left. The purple one was made by Jean McKinstry, an old friend from Lake Tarawera.

And this is another heart quilt kindly compiled and quilted by Kiwiquilter Jan Main.

Essential Supplies

2011-02-01T16:49:00.000+13:00

I am packing. My house, that is, not firearms. There are boxes all over the place, and the house is in disarray. I have to sort as I pack, because I'm not only going to a smaller place but also it will only be temporary (I hope) until my house sells and I can buy a house in Invercargill. This means that many things will stay in boxes in the garage, so it's important to work out what will be essential supplies for the next 6 months.

As I sorted through the storage area under the stairs (which has taken me much of today -ahem! No prizes for guessing it was rather a mess), I found a box containing yarn that I had completely forgotten about. At the time I packed this (in 2008), I was not really knitting with this sort of yarn, though I was clearly entranced enough to buy them.

The red/purple yarn and the blue/turquoise one on the left of the photo are silk noil. The blue/green/purple skein at the rear is rayon boucle. I'm not sure what the balls at the front are, they just look like fine wool, but I recall that I bought them to knit with the boucle in some way, as they have the same colours.

Naturally, they shall go into a box labelled "Essential Supplies".

Appreciating my blog and internet friends

2011-01-26T14:52:00.002+13:00

Today, I thought I'd talk about my blog and internet friends instead of about me. These are people who made my overseas trip last year memorable and possible. Since the new Blogger actually uploads photos in the right order now, these are in reverse order. Do visit their blogs and/or websites where there are links shown.

Marion Barnett aka Artmixter took me under her wing after the disatrous housesitter affair. She and husband Robin cossetted me and showed me the lovely countryside around Norfolk. Above is one of the striking stone houses that the region is famous for. Marion is a Scottish artist and works with dyes, paints, Lutradur, Evolon and other interesting fabrics.

I spent a few days in the south of France, staying with Dijanne Cevaal, the Textile Itinerant.
Dijanne is a well-known dyer, stitcher, author and tutor who travels between Australia and France, when she is not visiting places like Syria. One day, we travelled to the Mediterranean coast to Sete to visit an art exhibition. Opposite the gallery was this magnificently-sited cemetery. What a view.

Before that, I stayed with former Kiwi Margo Bimler, of Teinture Textile. Margo lives in Haute Savoie, home to these dramatic rocky outcrops, and is a dyer like me, as well as being a qualified seamstress and quilter. She also cossetted me at a time when I wanted to come home early but couldn't get a flight, and was a lovely companion on our trip to the four day quilt show in Morzine, up in the French Alps.

Blog friend Veronique Marouze, of Au Fil du Jardin, is a talented quilter and sewer. She collected me from the wee hilltop village in Provence where I was staying and took me to her home near Aix-en-Provence. We stopped at a little cafe in a small town on the way home and had a delighful lunch under the grape vines. We did a day trip to Marseille around the old port, where this photo was taken in the square.

Lorna Lafferty doesn't have a blog, but we had met when she attended my class at the National Quilting Symposium a couple of years ago. Lorna is a quilter, and is so well-travelled - she has been all over the world. She and her family live in Dun Laoghaire, a lovely area south of Dublin. This photo was taken when we went for an evening drive down the coast.

Loulee Heron aka Manxgirl lives on Ramsay on the Isle of Man with her Kiwi husband. I have a Manx cat so have long wanted to go there. Loulee spent several days taking me around the island - this photo is in Douglas, the largest town, which has horse-drawn trams in summer for the tourists. They looked after me so well, and it was a great place to visit.

Liz Plummer of Dreaming Spirals is a textile artist living in this 3 storey house in south Wales. It has a magnificent wisteria growing over the front. Although Liz and her husband are English, their sons have wonderful lilting Welsh accents as they have grown up there. Liz does a lot of interesting techniques using Gocco and other printing methods.

Last but not least, my lovely former sister-in-law Jo Goodwin, who is currently living in London. I re-connected with Jo on Facebook after about 20 years- along with her daughter and 2 sons who are also in London. Jo met me at Heathrow, and also saw me off when I left. It was SO good to arrive after a long flight and see someone I knew. Jo's flat in Putney is also home to 3 flatmates, and we had some good meals and good conversations.

Love you all.

Sorting the heart blocks

2011-01-25T13:51:00.001+13:00

As the heart blocks arrived, I sorted them into bags depending on the colours (red, blue, green, purple, yellow/orange/brown and multi) and also into bages labelled 'boys' or 'girls' if they were made from children's fabric. Assuming that there would be some older boys as recipients, I sorted some that had no teddy bears or similar. Above is one of these, compiled and quilted by local quilter Joy Hurley, and including some nine-patch blocks I was given.

A number of the hearts were really pretty, with embroidery, lace, paper piecing and so on, and I collected some of these into another bag for Joy. Hasn't she made a great job?

8000 hearts and counting

2011-01-21T14:08:00.000+13:00

Yes, I have now received 8000 heart blocks. I know there are more on the way, so that's not the final tally.

Today, this completed quilt arrived that had been compiled and quilted by Ailsa Brough and Cathy Baal of Auckland. It was quilted on the Auckland Patchwork Guild's Can-quilter frame. Wonderful work, ladies.

Some more for the pile

2011-01-20T14:57:00.000+13:00

This quilt was compiled by Marie Brunton from green heart blocks I forwarded to her. I like the staggered arrangement she has chosen.

And this one was donated by Marilyn Giles, all made in lovely orange and brown tones.

Post #750 - who would have thought?

2011-01-18T16:30:00.000+13:00

These are a couple of quilt tops put together by local quilter Sheryl. I like the way she has used sashing to make them more interesting. They look good, don't they?

Hearts and more hearts

2011-01-14T12:21:00.000+13:00

Today, I received 6 quilts from Robyn Herbert and the Waitara Tuesday Nighters and Thursday Patchwork Group.

The last one was compiled from heart blocks and quilted by Betty, a local quilter whom I met at Pilates class. To make hers a bit different, Betty has hand stitched around each heart and put sashing inbetween the blocks.

Thanks, everyone!

Pike River quilts on TV

2011-01-14T06:25:00.000+13:00

Quilters stunned by Pike River contributions (1:47)

Heart blocks coming home

2011-01-11T08:07:00.001+13:00

Here's one of the completed quilts made from heart blocks, put together and quilted by Jan Main. Jan has used a fancy stitch inbetween the blocks in a complemetary colour which highlights the block colours - doesn't it look great?

Latest quilts

2011-01-07T13:52:00.001+13:00

These 2 children's quilts were sent by Diana Hess from Queensland, Australia, from her friends Dawn and Cynthia.

There are quite a few quilts and tops being quietly assembled in the background. I'll keep photographing them as they are completed.

Doing nothing

2011-01-03T13:15:00.002+13:00

Normally, this is the time of year when I get really bored. I've had the excitement of Christmas, with family staying for a few days. Then they go away, my friends are either away or occupied with their families, and I'm at home.

Fortunately, after a couple of days of feeling grumpy and despondent, I settle in to Doing Nothing. Usually I have serious To Do lists, but at this time, I just ignore these. In New Zealand, there are 4 days of statutory holidays at Christmas and another 4 at New Year, when most shops are closed and there's no mail deliveries.

Interestingly, Doing Nothing can be very productive for me. 11 years ago, I started Kiwiquilters, an email list for quilters that now has over 500 members, because I was bored. This was one of my better ideas. This year, I've started my new blog, Creative Women of a Certain Age, which is designed to be an interactive blog. Interactive in the sense that I will comment each week on an issue that is relevant to women over 45, and I encourage my blog readers to share their opinions on this topic. Don't think anyone is interested in your opinion? I am. Feel that you husband and/or children don't listen to you? I will. Concerned about how your life has changed? Feel free to say so. You don't need to agree with what I say - you might have a completely different viewpoint, so why not express it? This week's topic is Doing Something New.

And while I say I'm doing nothing, I'm not exactly sitting in a vacuum. When I started to knit with the long repeat wool I dyed yesterday, I realised that I couldn't possibly colour pool with it as the repeats were just too long. But that's me - act first, think afterwards. Or as I prefer to put it, you don't know how anything will work out until you try it. But no matter! With my short attention span, I just adore knitting hand painted wool. This will be a light, airy rainbow-coloured scarf that can double as a shawl. I'm going to play with different lace stitches - above you can see the first band.

Colour pooling

2011-01-02T17:39:00.002+13:00

When I first started to hand paint wool, my skeins were quite short, so the colour repeats were also short. This was great fun to do, but didn't knit up well. I wanted to do some colour pooling which would require me to make my skeins very long.
Yes, this long. Around 6.5 metres (22 feet) in fact. This is very fine merino laceweight yarn - around 25 grams in weight (1 oz) and around 400 metres long.

Here's the yarn laid out on plastic wrap, having been first wetted in warm water with a dash of detergent. I wanted to make a multicoloured yarn that I can make a lace scarf with.

Here's the skein after it's been fixed in the microwave. Unfortunately, I totally failed to think about how long it was going to take me to rewind this skein into a ball for knitting. Hours. Around 4 of them, as the yarn is so fine and the skein so long. Just as well it's a holiday today and I had nothing else planned.

The finished ball! Now I'm going to play with knitting it with some crazy lace patterns.

Accomplished? Well, partly.

2011-01-01T11:24:00.005+13:00

Welcome to 2011!

Blog readers may be forgiven for thinking my entire creative life revolves around the hearts quilts, seeing as this has been my main activity for the past month. Not so. My knitting is continuing quietly in the background. Here's what I'm currently working on (I say "currently", as there are another 4 or 5 PHDs tucked away - that's Projects Half Done - that I will return to).

Above is my version of this wraparound vest. My local yarn shop has been selling packs of 10 balls of various yarns for $20, a great bargain - but it's not always easy to make something out of only 10 balls. I've been lucky enough to grab 2 packs (at different times) of black merino, so that will be another winter project. In the meantime, this one is nearing completion.
Because I became bored (short attention span) with the vest, I decided to make the Boneyard Shawl. I chose this navy and white cotton that I picked up at an op shop in case my son would wear it, but I'm not sure if he'll think it too unmasculine. No matter. It'll be won by someone.
And if I don't feel like knitting either of those, I change to this lovely little neckwarmer that I'm knitting for my daughter. It's in silk and merino, as she's allergic to ordinary wool. I'm just making up this pattern from a photo I've seen on Ravelry. It'll have buttonholes at the other end and buttons at this end, and can be worn fastened or partly opened. This is the same silk/merino blend that I recently used for a scarf for myself. As Sophie doesn't like multicoloured things, I re-dyed the wool to even out the colour.
I've seriously curtailed my book-buying habits, which has probably caused Amazon's turnover to drop substantially. However, I did treat myself to this book for Christmas - you can read more about it here. Yes, it was disgustingly expensive, but it's not a pattern book. Rather, it's a design book that you use as a reference. I am a fairly new lace knitter, so I decided that I need all the help I can get.

Stick a fork in me, I'm done

2010-12-31T12:04:00.007+13:00

Yes, I'm nearly done with 2010. In 12 hours (New Zealand time), a new decade is about to start. You know when you get asked at job interviews "where do you see yourself in 5 years' time?", I can never answer. It's hard enough just looking ahead for one year, so I'm not even going to try to predict what this decade might hold.

Right now, the hearts are still coming in and so are completed tops and quilts. Here's 2 quilts that have been compiled from heart blocks and quilted by Joy Hurley. Don't they look good?

And here are some completed quilts that arrived just before Christmas:

I have all the makers' names on the quilts but am too lazy to go upstairs and rummage throught the piles to find them. From my notes, I can tell you that there are 6 quilts from Rangitikei Country Quilters (amazing effort!), 1 top that was quilted by Jan Main of Kiwiquilters, 2 quilts from Kaikoura Patchwork Shop and 1 from Judith Harvey of Australia.

Happy New Year, everyone. I really appreciate my blog readers, and I love to read your comments. I hope you will all have a happy and prosperous 2011.

Going retro

2010-12-28T18:27:00.003+13:00

When I was younger, aprons were something that my mother and grandmother wore. I wouldn't be seen dead in them. However, like knitting, aprons have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. After taking up dyeing, I found aprons useful to prevent splattering myself in dye. Also, now that I make most of my own bread, I wear an apron to avoid covering myself in flour.

At present, I'm feeling rather quilted out, so I decided to make myself another apron. Being determined to not buy any more fabric, I rummaged in my non-quilting fabric bags and came up with this hemp. For those more acquainted with hemp's negative side, it makes a beautiful crisp neutral fabric that's mainly used here for curtains. Expensive curtains, I might add. It's an unusual fabric, like an openweave linen, so I matched it with a neutral linen for the pocket and straps.

I have some much lighter cotton that has a lovely retro 50s look, and I'm thinking of making a frilly apron with that - maybe as a gift. Aprons are (generally) quick and easy to make, and satisfy the creative urge.

Scenes from the festive season

2010-12-26T11:54:00.003+13:00

Cass in "I'm the king of the castle" mode.
Mark, Sophie and Cass about to start eating our Christmas lunch out on the deck. We had baked salmon, smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels, and various salads, followed by fresh fruit salad, whipped cream and brandy snaps.
This is one of the bags I made for family (the female ones of course) this year. This one is for Catherine, Cass's girlfriend, who spent Christmas in Auckland with her family.

A mixed bag

2010-12-23T18:14:00.004+13:00

This is my living room, showing the chaos created by sorting a week's worth of heart blocks and then counting them into bundles of 60. This took me at least a couple of hours today, but I needed to do it as I was sending bags of blocks to quilters around the country and I didn't have enough made up. I wanted them on their way before Christmas.
My son Cass arrived yesterday evening and is staying until the crack of dawn on Boxing Day (seriously! his flight leaves about 7am, so we need to leave here by 6am).
Because I couldn't see the lunar eclipse (in the east)from here, I photographed the setting sun in the west instead. That day, we had a huge high cloud bank that accompanies the strong, hot nor'wester winds, and which is called a "nor'west arch". Usually it sits with a clear sky beneath it but by sunset, there was more cloud. Winds of around 100 kmh blew my TV aerial off the roof.

Christmas greetings

2010-12-21T20:26:00.003+13:00

Before everyone gets too busy or starts going away, I'd like to wish all my blog readers and their families a safe and happy Christmas, and best wishes for the coming year.

I am still busy with the miners' quilts. In under 4 weeks, I have received almost 6000 heart blocks, as well as many donated quilts (over 50 now). I also have in my living room around 30 quilt tops which need to be made into quilts. I've sent bags of heart blocks and also some quilt tops to various parts of New Zealand to be made up.

Today, I had blocks from England, the Netherlands, Scotland, Australia, Riyadh and Canada as well as NZ. Who knew there was an international quilt group in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia)? They sent me one of their guild badges which features a camel - a bit different from NZ badges! The variety of hearts on the blocks is amazing. The number of hearts ranges from 1 to 14. The hearts are appliqued, paper pieced, strip pieced, embroidered, beaded, inverted, diagonal, outlined, cascading and rotating. They come in every colour imaginable. The block makers vary in age from 8 to 88.

So many people have been touched by the disaster, and have wanted to help in some way. A local long-arm quilter contacted me and offered to quilt some tops despite being incapacitated following a hip operation (she has an enormous Nolting machine that you have to walk beside). Some quilters have sandwiched and quilted as many as`3 tops, and many are donating their own batting and backing to the appeal. Some quilt groups have got together and made great numbers of blocks, including some Australian groups. Other groups have made quilt tops or completed quilts. Some individuals have also given several already made quilts, representing hours of work and many dollars in materials. Their generosity is humbling.

To everyone who has contributed in some way to make this appeal so successful - thank you so much. I leave you with a photo of a slightly festive poodle - I'm not doing Christmas decorations this year.

Snowed under?

2010-12-20T17:11:00.004+13:00

Today I received these 2 lovely quilts from the stitchers at Christofer Robyn Quilts in Wanaka. The colours on the hearts quilt are delicious.
And what could be more blokey than a rugby quilt?

For those worrying that I have been snowed under (as opposed to snowed upon, which I would be if I were still in the UK or Europe), don't be concerned. The flow of hearts has slowed somewhat (only 180 today). I am quietly plugging away at the quilts that I'm personally working on, and I have a number of quilters and sewers, both locally and around the country, who are also quietly beavering away at sewing blocks together or turning tops into quilts.

Over the past few days, I've been concentrating on sewing bags for Christmas presents. I've completed Mum's bag (sorry, no photo as I was in a rush to get it in the mail) and the other 2 are near completion - I may be able to sneak a photo onto the blog of one of those.

Friday's Quilts

2010-12-18T08:31:00.004+13:00

A wee hearts quilt from Ali Honeyfield of Tauranga...
..and a truly magnificent large appliqued quilt from Kathy McCaffrey of Taupo. A huge amount of work has gone into this quilt (click on the image to enlarge it), so it's a very generous donation.

In other news...

2010-12-16T19:03:00.004+13:00

...actually, there IS no other news. It's quilts, quilts, and more quilts. Above is a star quilt made by Village Green Quilters in Whenuapai.
Two quilt tops that were donated as tops and have now been quilted by Joy Judd. Thanks so much, Joy.
Below is a huge hearts quilt made by Turramurra Quilters in Sydney - what a wonderful effort.
Today, the total of heart blocks received passed the 5000 mark. The committee of Christchurch Quilters' has uplifted a week's worth of blocks (around 1800 or so) and will be working their magic on these, while I continue with what I have here. Thanks to all those around the country who have asked me to send them blocks or tops to work on.

Back into it

2010-12-15T08:46:00.003+13:00

Here are 2 lap quilts from Geraldine Patchworkers.
This quilt, and the following 2 are from Jill McCoy of Tauranga- a wonderfully generous donation. Looking at these quilts through a camera lens, I'm constantly reminded of how quilts are like oil paintings - when you view them from a distance, you become so much more aware of the beauty of the designs and colours than you do when looking at them close up.

This quilt, from Jill Pheloung of Katikati, looks quite different when seen like this - the dark diagonals become visible.
A lovely scrappy quilt from Picton Quilting Group.
I think this is from Margaret Knight in Auckland.
This child's quilt is from Jacqueline Foster of Picton. Thanks, everyone!

Recharging my batteries...

2010-12-14T11:35:00.002+13:00

...literally and figuratively. I have a bunch of quilts to photograph but this will have to wait.

Totals to date - 4,650 blocks and 37 quilts donated, plus around 20 uncompleted tops. See why I'm taking a break?

Back tomorrow.

Taking a break

2010-12-12T05:57:00.006+13:00

Yesterday I had an Open Home so I had to spend some hours sorting, tidying and cleaning, as you do. Consequently, I took a break from the Quilts for Miners project. I have also stopped sorting the heart blocks, as there are enough sorted for 20 quilts at present. I had a rush of completed quilts arriving on Friday. Above is one donated by Linn Norman from Cottonfields in Christchurch.
Please forgive me for not acknowledging the makers of the next 2, as I have now folded them up and put them away.
The last 4 small quilts were made by Pauline at Quilters' Quarters here in Rangiora.

Today I have another Open Home, so maybe I will make a start on the bags that I'm making for my daughter and my son's girlfriend for Christmas. Or maybe not.

What I Didn't Do Yesterday & More Quilts

2010-12-09T11:49:00.005+13:00

Yesterday, I didn't get the blocks I received in the mail sorted. Today, I have twice the task. Here's the 460 blocks that I need to sort.
Today, I also received some completed quilts. The first 3 shown are from Rangitikei Quilters via Mary-Ann Kane.

This one, and the following 2 are all from Margaret Rogerson of Wellington.
I am secretly coveting this lovely batik one, and also the one below, which has some lovely Kaffe Fassett fabrics in it.
You can see how much fun it is opening the mail!

Today's Quilt Top

2010-12-08T19:58:00.002+13:00

As the heart blocks arrive, I sort them into categories - boys, girls, red, purple, green, blue, yellow & orange, and black/brown/multicoloured. Then I sort out 60 of each category, with a couple of spares, put them into plastic bags and label them, so that when I get a volunteer who will sew a top together, they're all ready to go.

Some of the blocks I've received are harder to place than others, especially when there are a large number that are all the same or they're made to an unusual design. I decided to make a quilt with repeated blocks, instead of aiming to have all the blocks different, and include some of the unusual ones. I was able to find quite a few pink and red ones but not enough. Then I remembered that 2 people had send in hearts of black fabric with small hearts on it, so I added those. The border fabric is red with black and white circles, which seemed to match. I'm pretty happy with the result, so I'll sandwich and quilt this once I finish the blue one.

A thousand thank yous

2010-12-08T13:36:00.005+13:00

A heart top donated by a local quilter.
Another heart top in florals by Jill Haines.
A completed quilt kindly donated by Mrs Pratt of Masterton, as is the one below as well.
I hope no-one is offended by not receiving a personal thank you. Many of you have sent me your email or blog addresses, but with between 200 to 350 hearts arriving each day, it is simply not possible for me to acknowledge individual donations.

Please acccept this as a thank you for your contribution.

I have received almost 2000 hearts so far. Around 600 of these are being made into quilts at present; the rest I am sorting into colours and childrens/adults piles to be available for the next volunteers to start work on. Completed quilts received now total 17; and there are 18 uncompleted tops. I know there are more on the way.

This has turned into a huge task, and I am trying to not get overwhelmed by it. I have removed the self-imposed "get all the children's quilts to them by Christmas" and will simply work away at trying to co-ordinate the making of as many quilts as possible. I will be personally donating 3 quilts - the first is completed, the second is being quilted.

Please also be assured that there will not be "too many". Any hearts or tops or quilts that are not able to be used for this project will be used to provide comfort for another deserving cause.

Thank you all.

Gifts from the north

2010-12-06T09:34:00.005+13:00

Anne Scott from NZ Quilter has kindly forwarded 4 completed quilts which arrived this morning. This lovely floral quilt was made by Jan Cotton, a member of Kiwiquilters.
This quilt in Thimbleberries fabric is by Jane Howie from Palmerston North. This large bed quilt was made by Kapiti Coast Quilters, as was the one below.
Thanks, everyone!

A bit of ingenuity

2010-12-04T14:55:00.004+13:00

One of the donated tops I've received was from Clare Crosswell of Blenheim. It was a pretty colourwash top but too small to use as it was. With a thin border to bring it up to size, and a row of hearts, it's now a lovely lap quilt. Thanks Clare!

A big thank you..

2010-12-04T10:40:00.004+13:00

...to everyone who has donated hearts and quilt tops and quilts so far.

My comment in the last post about having enough hearts was meant for people who are reading about this appeal for the first time. If you have started to make hearts, please continue and send them. If there are any surplus, they will certainly not be wasted.

And a huge thank you to those lovely generous souls (you know who you are) who have sent me donations of money through Paypal. You are helping make life a bit easier. Bless you.

The photos show a donated quilt top, and today's hearts in the mail.

1, 2, 3.......38

2010-12-03T11:07:00.004+13:00

Today, the postie had to deliver my mail by car. There were 38 parcels. So after a week, I have received 1042 blocks (including some 9-patch), around 15 quilt tops and 6 completed quilts. I know there are many more blocks and a few completed quilts on their way.

As a result of an article in the local paper, I have 3 people each sewing together a quilt top.

What I do NOT have is help to sandwich, machine quilt and bind quilts to complete them. I am feeling very despondent today, especially as it's become clear that the NZ welfare system is failing me and I cannot rely on any measure of government support to help me pay my bills. I'm sorry to bring my personal problems to the blog again, and I'm so grateful to the people who have sent me money to help with my expenses.

I believe that I will have enough blocks to complete this project, so if you've just found the hearts blocks appeal, I do not need any more at this stage. Thank you.

Quiltathon

2010-12-01T15:37:00.002+13:00

I am holding a Quiltathon this Friday and Saturday, am asking local quilters to assist with sewing the heart blocks into tops; adding borders; sandwiching the quilts; machine quilting; and binding.
I have some donated calico and backing fabrics, and some donated batting. However, this will not stretch to all the quilts being made. I am trying to get 15 children's quilts ready so they can be distributed before Christmas. Simultaneously, I want to get started on the other 30 quilts.

I can accomodate half a dozen or so quilters here at my home. Local quilters could come and collect blocks or tops (I have around 15 tops waiting to be assembled) and take them home to complete. Any assistance is appreciated.

A bit like Christmas

2010-12-01T13:29:00.004+13:00

Here's today's mail! I love opening parcels.

There were lots of quilt tops in these bags.

They will all need to be sandwiched, quilted and bound.

The last 2 quilts are completed - the red and green one from Ann Coburn of Twizel, and the hearts one from Ann Court.

Donated block count so far is 404, plus I have received partly completed tops and fabric.

Cottonfields Quilters Quarters, in Avonhead, Christchurch, has kindly donated batting and backing fabric. What a lovely shop - I hadn't been there before.

I've also had calico and vliesofix donated by High on Fabric and Quilters' Quarters in Rangiora.

I would love to acknowledge everyone who is donating to this project, but it simply isn't possible. Please take this "Thank You" as a personal message. And many thanks also to the quilters who have sent me money to help cover my expenses. As I'm not working, this is very welcome.

Today's work

2010-11-30T16:53:00.003+13:00

Quilt blocks donated by Margaret Morrison, now sewn together and bordered.
Quilt top donated by Isabel Reid, now with added border.

My body is telling me I have spent too long sewing today so I shall have to pace myself. There was a slew of parcels and letters containing blocks today - my postie is going to hate me.

Meandering Polyps

2010-11-30T10:01:00.003+13:00

Meandering Polyps. Now there's a quilting design that you'll never see in a quilting book. I can't imagine any quilt show winner proudly discussing her Meandering Polyps design with the judges. When I started to quilt this log cabin quilt yesterday morning, my tired brain just couldn't think of a design that I could quickly and easily use, so I invented this one. It's ugly, but it's doing the job. I don't have the luxury of spending 100 hours quilting this.

You see, I've tried quilting this baby before. However, each time was a disaster. When I made this very scrappy quilt, I wanted to maintain the traditional red centres of the blocks, which represent home and the hearth. The only red fabric I had is the stuff that you can see in the centres and also as the border. It's of doubtful parentage, and has evil, shape-shifting ways, which is why previous attempts to quilt it were unsuccessful.

Using techniques taught to me by Sally Bramald (Feather Quilter Extraordinaire), I have been able to contain this fabric's desire to pucker and bunch. Sadly, I haven't acquired Sally's skill and control. My Meandering Polyps quilt is not going to win any prizes. What it IS going to do (I hope), is give a wee bit of comfort to someone who has just lost a loved one.

Once I've completed quilting the main part, I am going to re-pin the borders to within an inch of their nasty little lives, and force them into submission with some other design. Maybe Random Kidneys, or Small Intestines.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

2010-11-29T08:31:00.003+13:00

This little Bento Boxes top that you saw a few posts back has been changed into......
....a fully grown top. Now to get on with all the work of sandwiching these tops.

Hearts are starting

2010-11-28T10:35:00.004+13:00

I received the first 2 sets of heart blocks yesterday, along with some 9 patches. As the local newspaper wants to take some photos tomorrow afternoon, I took 14 of the donated blocks that were in blues, made another 46 hearts, then assembled them into this top so there'd be something to photograph.
This lovely stack'n'slash quilt was donated by Raewyn Mill of Christchurch.

Bobbie has kindly made a heart pattern in PDF format to downloaod if anyone wants one. You can find it here.

Heart Blocks

2010-11-26T16:39:00.002+13:00

I am speechless (almost!) at the huge number of visits to my blog, and the enormous outpouring of generous support for this cause.

Here are the answers to some questions I've received-

1. You can write on the blocks if you want - your country, name or whatever you would like to put.

2. If you are making an entire quilt top, you can make the blocks any size you like. The 6 1/2 " size is just for people making a couple of blocks so that we can standardise the tops.

3. If you have uncompleted quilt tops that you would like to donate, we are happy to take those.
They do not need to have hearts on them.

4. We will be making predominantly single bed sized quilts, big enough to cover the top of the bed. They do not need to come down the sides.

5. If you are putting heart blocks together before sending them to me, you can do them in different ways if you like. For example, you may want to join 4 blocks together, then surround them with sashing. There are no "rules"!

Thank you so much for contributing.

Thank you so much....

2010-11-26T06:26:00.003+13:00

..to all the bloggers who have responded to my call for hearts. I am constantly amazed at the power of the internet, and how a message can spread.

There is no actual cut-off date but I want to start making quilts ASAP, and would particularly like to get the children's ones to them by Christmas. At this stage (bearing in mind that I only started this 24 hours ago), I don't have the ages and numbers of children involved but I have someone finding this out. So if you or your quilting group are making blocks, the sooner the better is what to aim for.

For thos who are assembling quilt tops - realistically, I think we will aim for single bed size (for children) and lap sized quilts, as large bed quilts are going to take too long to assemble and quilt.

I am happy for anyone who wants to help to put a link on their blog to mine.

Thank you everyone, the quilting community is indeed a wonderful, generous group of people.

Call to quilters all over the world for Healing Hearts blocks

2010-11-25T09:38:00.006+13:00

Dear quilting friends,

You may be aware that New Zealand has suffered a major mining disaster at Pike River mine on the west coast of the South Island, resulting in the deaths of 29 miners. Many of these miners had young families. One was soon to be a father. Like many New Zealanders, I am sharing the pain of the families of the miners. And like many, I have thought about what I could do to help.

I am part of Kiwiquilters, an email group for New Zealand quilters. We have a tradition, as do other quilting groups, of making Healing Hearts quilts for members and their families or friends who are suffering personal tragedy or serious illness. I have asked the group, and other quilting groups around the country, to contribute heart blocks to make into quilts for the miner’s families, and I will assemble and co-ordinate these.

Please consider making a block or several blocks for this cause. It doesn't matter that you don't know the people involved - neither do I. The love and support from strangers that is embodied in these quilts is something tangible that the families can get comfort from for years.

Here are the block details if you want to make some:-

- - Cream background – calico is fine

- - 6 ½” unfinished size (so they will be 6” finished)

- - Pieced or appliquéd heart or hearts

- - Any colours or patterns for the hearts. Some of the quilts will be for children, so children’s fabrics are fine too.

Please send to me at the address below. Thank you so much.

Shirley Goodwin

51 Charles St

Rangiora 7400

New Zealand

When life throws you scraps...

2010-11-20T10:43:00.006+13:00

Let me tell you a story.

When I was in the 6th form (Year 12 I think it's called now), my mother told me that I was going to have to leave school at the end of the year, as she couldn't afford to support me. However, my older brother, a year ahead of me at school, was to go to university. I was in the top academic class, and assumed that I would go to university along with all my friends after the end of the 7th Form (Year 13). I was distraught. This widened the rift between me and Mum, and I left home the following year, having little contact with my family for the next few years. It also severed the contact I had with my school friends (this was in the days before cellphones and the internet, you understand) and I lost touch with most of them.

While I've long ago got over this, and have done some extramural study when in my 30's, I have always hankered after university study. Recently, when searching for suitable contacts at tertiary institutions to send information about my dyes, I accidentally stumbled across a degree course at Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) in Invercargill, the southern-most city in New Zealand.

At one time, these institutions (formerly called Technical Institutes) could not offer proper bachelors' degrees, only more lowly-rated "technical" courses. However, that has now changed. This degree, Bachelor of Applied Media Arts (Visual Media), was the most interesting course I had seen. The first year has 3 threads - Visual Arts (painting, drawing, print-making and sculpture); Photography: and Graphic Design. All things I'm interested in. In the 2nd year, you choose one thread in which you specialise and graduate

I have applied to SIT and been accepted into this course, starting in February. Acceptance is not automatic, as numbers are limited.

However, I have some considerable obstacles in my path. Firstly, I am trying to sell my house without success (so far) as the market is extremely flat. Secondly, I have been unable to find work since returning home from overseas, and am struggling financially. This situation has made me stressed and depressed, and only the prospect of my new life has kept me going.

I am not a great believer in Fate, though sometimes it seems that things are meant to happen. I want this to happen for me. Perhaps, if I tell enough people, it will.

And, of course, when life throws you scraps, you make a quilt. Here's a couple of little tops I've dug out and will complete to take my mind off things. Above is an appliqued teapot quilt.
And this is a design called "Bento Boxes" after the clever Japanese lunch boxes.